The College System
by MyHeartDrawsADream
Summary: She was 6 years old when her mother died trying to protect her. Her father and brother, Tony, blame her for the death. She goes off to college, hoping to get away from living with men. Instead, she accidentally gets matched up with him as a roommate.
1. Mitchie

**I wrote this about an hour ago, out of boredom, so lets see if anyone actually reads this.**

**I actually wrote it while listening to "For The Love of A Daughter" although I don't know how this came to mind from it, as it really has absolutely NOTHING to do with the song.**

Chapter 1: Mitchie

I was six years old when my mom died, while trying to protect me. I had run out onto the road, and a car was speeding towards me. My mom ran to grab me and push me out of the way of the car. Just as she got me away from the car, it slammed into her and dragged her body all the way into the light pole a few feet away. Both the driver and my mom died right there.

After a while, it turned out that the guy who was driving had been drinking earlier, and thought it would be fun to start racing around the streets of Dallas. But both my dad, and my brother decided to blame me for her death anyway. They have made it clear countless times, that they would have preferred it if I was the one that got dragged into that light pole. All because i was the one who ran out onto the road as a kid.

It was 3 in the morning when I quietly snuck into the house, hoping that both Tony and my dad would either be sleeping, or out somewhere for the night. It was Thursday night, and we had the day off at school tomorrow for some teacher conference. I took advantage of that, and asked my boss to give me an extra long work shift tonight, and he agreed, knowing I didn't want to be at home. I had just finished my shift at Buzz Brews for the night, hoping that when i got home, no one was there. I often asked my boss to work late so I could avoid Tony and my dad, but sometimes it didn't work. Like tonight.

I shut the door as quietly as I had opened it, and tip-toed to the stairs, about to go to my room.

"Mitchie! Is that you? Get over here!" I froze in my tracks as I heard the all too familiar sound of my drunk father yelling at me. "Get over here, you stupid little bitch! Now!" He yelled again, his voice getting angrier, as my brother just laughed as if it was some kind of joke to him.

I debated going to them and getting it over with, or running to my room and locking myself in there until they were gone, which would only result in worse beatings tomorrow. I decided on the latter, hoping I could get away from it everyday. No such luck.

As soon as my dad heard me continue going towards the stairs, he told my brother to come after me. Just as I was about to make it to the safety of my room, Tony grabbed the back of my shirt, and pulled me away from my room, almost knocking me down. "You didn't think you would get away that easily, did you?" He snickered, dragging me harshly back down the stairs and over to my dad.

"Ya tryin' to run away from me? Might be more effective if I didn't come after ya, don't ya think? Do ya know how to do that? You'd just have to run out on that road, just like when ya killed your mama out there. Ya took her life! You're nothin' but a selfish little bitch!" I just stood there, not daring to say a word, and trying to hold back the tears as what he said cut through me like a knife. Again.

"Aw, come on dad," Tony started, and looked at me sympathetically. I looked back at him, confused. Had he really come around? Had he gone back to the way we used to be? When my mom first died, he was always there to protect me from my dad's rage. And then, he got older, and started believing what my dad told him. He started hating me for killing our mom as well. But maybe he was realizing that it wasn't actually true. "Is that all you got? What about chasing her all the way out to the highway," he said, looking back at my father. I guess I spoke too soon. Who was I kidding, he would never change. My dad has completely brainwashed him into believing I'm the bad guy.

I tried to swallow back the lump growing in my throat as my dad stood up and stepped towards me. "Y'know what, son? That sounds like a much better idea," he said, staring me down. I found myself unable to breathe, so I slightly opened my mouth so I could take a deeper breath, and as soon as I did, he reached out his hand to slap me. "Who said ya can talk, bitch?" He yelled, after his hard hand collided with my cheek.

I could feel my cheek stinging as they both just laughed. Unfortunately, it was so funny that he slapped me again. And again. And then he punched me. First in the eye, then in the nose, then he threw the hardest punch right at my throat, all the while, laughing along with Tony.

At first, I tried to fight back, but the more I did, the harder the hits got. He completely knocked the air out of me when his fist collided with my throat, and I fell to the ground, unable to breathe.

Once i was on the ground, he started kicking me instead, and yelling at me for killing his wife, and ruining everything because I just had to go and be a stupid little bitch. A stupid selfish bitch.

His voice was starting to fade out, and his foot in my side was starting to hurt less, I was beginning to lose consciousness. Then he stopped, and threw an envelope at me, as I lay there, choking, and trying to catch my breath. The last thing I remember seeing is Tony walking up to me, and giving me one last hard kick in the side, knocking me out completely.

The next morning, I awoke in the same spot on the cold hardwood floor that I was left on last night. Everything hurt, and I cried out in pain as I tried to move. Suddenly, a ripped open envelope fell off my chest and onto the floor next to me. I looked at it, confusion etched into my face, as I recalled the events of last night. This must have been the envelope my dad had thrown at me yesterday.

I slowly forced myself move enough so that I could pick up the envelope, and take out the letter that was inside. I unfolded it, and nearly passed out again. This must have been the reason they were so mad last night.

The words were written so clearly at the top of the page; "Congratulations, Miss, Torres. You have been accepted into your first choice of our Music Department here at UCLA. We look forward to seeing you here in the near future." I stared at the paper, shock. Had I really gotten accepted? I was finally going away for college, and getting away from this hell hole. No more beatings, no more "jokes", and definitely no more living with the male species. Or so I thought.

The pain I was feeling from last night immediately disappeared as I pushed myself up off the floor and went to go take a shower, more excited than I ever remember being.

**If you want me to continue this, let me know in a review. :D **

**I'm usually not very good with updating, but this time I actually have a second chapter written already, so if anyone does want me to continue this story, I won't disappoint like I did with Downfall (for the movie "Just Like Heaven" if anyone is interested. :P)**


	2. Shane

**A/N: Alas, I've finally returned with the second chapter to this thing. Leave a review and tell me what you think. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I absolutely do NOT own Camp Rock, Demi Lovato, or the Jonas Brothers. Period.**

Chapter 2: Shane

It was two in the morning, and I was just sitting on my bed, softly strumming a slow tune on my guitar. Looking around my bedroom, I saw dozens of crumpled up pieces of paper, strewn all over the floor. The same way they had been for the past eight hours. I sighed, frustrated, and threw my guitar to the side, letting myself fall back onto the soft bed.

I tried to hold back the tears that threatened to fall, as the events of the day kept playing, over and over again in my head. Earlier today, I found out that my girlfriend has been cheating on me with my best friend. Typical, huh?

Well, not exactly. You see, Alex and Sean **(A/N: I just had to include a little Nikita. Is anyone else as obsessed with that show as I am? Especially with Sean and Alex. :P) **have a long history together. They've known each other since Alex was a baby, and they've been best friends ever since. Everyone always assumed they would end up together. That is, until she somehow managed to start dating me. Over the past three years, friends and family were finally starting to look past the perfection that was supposed to be Sean and Alex, and finally started to accept the reality of Shane and Alex.

At first, it started out as just a fun loving, simple relationship. No drama, no promises, nothing. Just two people "dating." But overtime, I really started to actually fall for her, and I thought she had too. But I guess it never really meant anything to her. She just wanted Sean to make his move already.

And today, I found out that he finally had. Three months ago. Both of them have been going behind my back, and lying straight to my face for the past three months. And I didn't even realize it. Oh, and here's the best part. How did I find out?

She called me this morning, and asked me to come over. Why? Just so I could see her and Sean, both half naked, and wrapped around each other, claiming that Alex wanted to "Surprise [me] with the good news."

So, apparently, this entire three year long relationship, was all just some scheme for her to win Sean over. And she thought I knew that, and was just trying to help her. Perfect. Fucking. Day. And a complete waste of three years of my life.

Snapping back to reality, I tried to shake the images out of my head, but with no success. The harder I tried to forget about it, the more I kept thinking about it, and replaying our entire relationship in my head, wondering if I've ever given her the impression that I was only trying to help her out. And what about Sean? Did our friendship mean nothing to him? Did he not realize that I was serious about her, and that she was mine? What on earth possessed him to ask her out?

I didn't know what else to do with my life at that moment. Sleep was clearly out of the question now, and I really needed to get out of my bedroom. So I made my way out towards the kitchen, and opened the fridge to reveal about a dozen bottles of beer, and a half empty bottle of Evan Williams Bourbon Whisky. My eyes lit up, knowing that, even if only for a few hours, it would get my mind off of all of this, and maybe even help me fall asleep.

I whipped out the bottle of whisky from the fridge, and grabbed a cup from the cupboard, filling it almost all the way to the top. Without hesitation, I gulped down the entire thing, and closed my eyes as I felt it flow through my body. Oh yeah. This would definitely help. Not wanting that sweet burning sensation to end just yet, I re-filled the cup to a little over half way, and once again, the clear brown liquid went straight down. I placed the cup into the sink, and went back to the fridge. The near empty bottle of whisky went back into the fridge, and was replaced with an ice cold bottle of beer, before I headed back to my room.

I didn't even realize I had fallen asleep, but the next thing I knew, I was being woken up by an obnoxiously loud ringing coming from my night stand. I opened my eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the burning sunlight seeping through the window, as I reached for the source of the ringing.

My heart nearly stopped when I looked at the caller ID. It was her. And suddenly, everything from the night before came flooding back into my mind, and I found myself fighting the urge to cry, once again. Grown men don't cry. That's what my father always says. I forced myself to hit 'answer', remembering that she still thought I knew about her only wanting to be with me to get Sean. I made a mental note to tell her that that definitely was not the truth.

"Alex," I finally said, my voice barely audible, as I held in a few tears.

"Hey Shane! I know it's early, but i just had to call you. I didn't really get a chance to say 'thank you' properly yesterday. You left so fast, and I didn't know if it was because you were busy or something, so I didn't want to bother with calling you last night."

Her voice was far too cheery for a man with a hangover. I rolled my eyes, and mumbled sarcastically, "Yeah, I was busy. That's why I left. Sure."

"Oh, so it's good I decided not to call. I hope you're not busy now?"

"Actually-" I started, but she interrupted me.

"I mean, I can't talk much either, but I really wanted to get a chance to say thanks again, for everything. I really do appreciate it. You're such a great friend."

I sighed. It was no use. "Yeah, no problem Alex. Now, if you don;t mind, I really gotta get going. I've got a lot of work to do. I'll see you later."

She giggled, before saying, "Well, I really hope so. Didn't we agree that we were going to go to that party tonight for-"

"Alex," I interrupted her.

"What?" She asked, sounding genuinely confused. Sometimes I wonder if she actually has a brain in there, or if it's just a hollow skull.

"It's just... Oh never mind. But I can;t make it to the party tonight, sorry." With that, I hung up. I figured that telling her wouldn't change anything. All it would do is make me feel worse. As if I really needed to feel worse than I already do. I just had to accept that we had a misunderstanding, and I needed to let her go. She was gone. And with that, so was my best friend.

So, instead of drowning myself in my own self-pity, I decided to call my dad instead, an idea popping into my head. I put the phone to my ear, and listened to the ringing, hoping that he wouldn't be too busy to pick up.

"Hello, this is Paul Grey speaking." There it is.

"Dad?" I said, letting him know it was me.

He didn't say anything, and for a moment, I thought he had hung up. "Shane! Son! How are you?"

I let out a breath, and said, "Good. Everything's great. What about you? How's it feel being the boss?"

"Well, I have to admit, it's a lot harder than it looks. But I think I have it all under control. I haven't heard from you in a while. How come you haven't called?"

"Um, I've been a little busy." You can call too, you know. "Things with Alex are kind of... Complicated, to say the least." That's putting it mildly. "I've just been really stressed out," I said, hiding my real thoughts.

"Still no job, I'm assuming?" His voice was condescending, the way it usually was when he started talking about work. Perfect time to bring up what I wanted.

I took a deep breath, and started. "Actually, that's what I'm calling you about. Do you remember when you said college would be a good idea for me? And it would spare me some time getting a job?"

"That was two years ago. Haven't you had enough time yet?"

"Yeah, but I think you might've been right about the whole 'needing an education' shenanigan. I'm not exactly getting too far without one, as you can see."

"Wise decision. Are you planning on taking up that music offer at UCLA I told you about?"

I smiled to myself. He was still offering it. Perfect. He may not be completely supportive about me wanting to pursue a career in music, but luckily, he isn't pushing me towards doing his job. "As a matter of fact, I am."

"And you're sure about this?" He asked, one last time.

"Absolutely," I replied, more confident than I've ever been in my life.

"Good. Then I'll have you enrolled by the September term." I smiled, and hung up the phone. Well, at least one thing was working out.

**A/N So I know I said I already wrote the chapter when I posted the first chapter, but I misplaced it for a while, and then I decided I didn't like Shane's story, so I wanted to re-write it. And I didn't actually get a chance to work on it, since I was so swamped with assignments and exam cram time. But now I have some free time, so hopefully, if people still read this, I shall definitely be updating. :)**

**And if there's any confusion, Shane and Mitchie have the regular 3 year age gap that Joe and Demi do, so Demi is fresh out of high school, so 18 year old, and Joe is 21 - hence the "two years of no school" comment from his dad. **


End file.
